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Mayawati's Buddha statue project delayed
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's dream project of building the tallest Buddha statue in the world at 152 metres has run into rough weather.
- IANS
- Published: 00:01 June 25, 2008
Kushinagar: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's dream project of building the tallest Buddha statue in the world at 152 metres has run into rough weather.
The execution of the plan has slowed down thanks to massive protests by farmers in Kushinagar town, where the project is to be built on a sprawling 750-acre plot.
It is located around 330km from Lucknow, on the border with Nepal, where the Buddha died, or attained Nirvana, 2,500 years ago.
Rights activist Medha Patkar has taken up cudgels against the project on behalf of farmers and held meetings with them earlier this month.
Protests against the project began in 2002 when Mayawati first conceived the plan during her third stint as chief minister, but the government had later succeeded in bringing around the farmers.
"Now, with Medha Patkar taking up the campaign, the agitation has revived and the project has slowed down. We hope to convince the villagers that Kushinagar would become an international tourist destination and create jobs for them," P.K. Mohanty, commissioner of Gorakhpur division, said.
The proposed 152.4 metre bronze statue would sit atop a 17-storey building. The $222-million project is being implemented by a global private organisation called Maitreyi.
The state government is acquiring the land from the farmers and would lease it out to the Maitreyi Trust free of cost.
Patkar and the agitating villagers are questioning the purpose of depriving the villagers of fertile land for the construction of the statue.
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